Katy Edwards

First post:
Aug 4, 2017 Latest post:
Jul 15, 2018

I feel like this story really begins with the birth of my beautiful baby girl, Nora, on July 8, 2017. I had a few minor complications during pregnancy but we had a great labor and delivery and she arrived at 12:03pm. I began having more complications after delivery and ended up spending my first night away from her in the ICU getting blood products and one-on-one attention. At this time, the doctors were not sure what was going on but everyone was hopeful that my drop in labs was due to pregnancy and would begin to get better on it's own. Since being discharged from the hospital, I have had labs checked frequently and although they briefly improved, they dropped back down which led to a bone marrow biopsy on July 31. We received the results on August 2 and unfortunately, it showed that I have a type of leukemia called APL (acute promyelocytic leukemia). This is a subtype of AML and in the leukemia world, we are told that this is "the" type of leukemia you want to have if you're going to have one. It has a very high cure rate when treatment is started right away. Due to this, I was admitted to KU Medical Center that same night to begin treatment. This was extremely hard as it meant that I had to leave my two wonderful children and my amazing husband for a 4-5 week hospital admission. I am so blessed though to have such a wonderful support system and everyone has stepped in to help. This is going to be a long and hard fight but I am determined to win. I am a big believer in the power of prayer and I will gladly accept any prayers and good thoughts sent our way.